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What is a Texas Hairdo?

( Author's note ... skip this part to stick to the facts ...

Life, sometimes, gets in the way. Oregon Flock and Fiber was fantastic! Between my drum carding classes ~ flickr'd to the n'th degree for your batty pleasure ~ and the realization that there were now 24 new spindlers or returnees-to-the-spindle (from the wheel) because of little old me, I was on cloud 9. The chaos at home was a little bad, sure, but I figured, how bad can it get? A little worse. Every time it looks like we're digging out of it, a new pile hits. Sheesh. But don't worry, dear reader, it's just life, nothing medical ~ thank goodness! ~ nothing mental, just raising children, rearing pets, and training husband (yay for that last one being singular, eh!)

so now, with that off my chest, let's return to the blogging ... )

Why, you ask, is The Belle asking me what a Texas Hairdo is? Well, you know, the humorous line, that Texas is the state of Big Hair? Honestly folks. I went there on business when I worked at a major computer manufacturer with my humble ear-length pageboy and was called Mr. by more than one hotel clerk. Seriously! It almost had me rat-nesting my hair for height.

But let's get back to talking about spinning. Well, you know, when you're a new spinner, you have this death-grip on the fiber, and as you draft fiber out from that mass, some seems to get trapped in your hand. This mass builds up there, wider even than the roving (or top, or strip of a batt, or rolag, or sliver ... name your fiber prep of choice) was to begin with. That built-up, messy-to-draft mess? it is a "Texas Hairdo".

We hit on that term in my I Wanna Spindle classes at Oregon Flock and Fiber. And you know what? I've told many people not to "kill the baby bird" in their hand, but they just kept squeezing. Once I told them they were making a Texas Hairdo, they laughed, relaxed, and stopped squeezing! Laughter truly is the best medicine.